WorkYourLeads

Buying leads can be a good way to jump start your e-mail marketing.  It can also be the fastest way to put yourself out of business if you do not exercise some caution and make sure the leads you are buying are not junk that will cause you nothing but trouble or land you in court or jail!

First let me say that if you are thinking about buying one of those disks with thousands of e-mail address’s for next to nothing…..DON’T! again DON’T!

Most are old junk, spam traps and dead e-mail address’s that will get you blacklisted for spam, your hosting account killed for spam and generally cause a lot of trouble for you that you really do not want or need!

Here are several things you should do before you purchase leads from a company or someone, this is not a complete list of things you need to do so your mileage will very, just use common sense before you buy the leads!

Check out the Company or person you are buying the leads from. Use google.com to search for their name or company name. A lot of complaints in forums or sites….look for another source.

• Ask how the leads are generated…..if by capture pages ask for URL’s so you can see how they get the leads. If they harvest them……run away fast!
• Ask how they verify the information collected.
• Ask for a sample of the leads data.
• Ask how many times the list is sold (cheap lists are sold many many times, these types of leads are most likely junk before you even see them!)
• Look at the data.
• Does the IP given match the area of the address given Check IP’s Here?
• Does the Area code of the phone number match the area of the state listed for them ( check area codes Here)?
• Is the list all free e-mail accounts like yahoo , msn, hotmail?
• Are there any abuse@ , postmaster@ webmaster@ address’s? There should not be ( good indication the e-mail address’s are harvested or generated)
• Test one or two of the phone numbers given for the leads and see if the phone number is even valid.

If the list you are thinking of purchasing can not pass the simple tests above, look for another source and test again. There are reputable lead sellers out there but most of the leads under $1.50 per e-mail address are generally sold many many times.

Just remember that bought leads are not opt-in and can not be even if the seller states so….ask them how did they opt-in to my list? Answer they didn’t!

So if buying leads make sure you use confirmed opt-in when mailing them, yes you will loose a chunk of the leads you just bought but it will also show you how good the list is you bought and how responsive they are to your marketing e-mail. If they won’t opt-in to your list then they most likely will never read your e-mail anyway.

JR….